RECIPES AND TABLESCAPES FOR ALL OCCASIONS… BECAUSE EVERY DAY IS A CELEBRATION!

Category Archives: Rice

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Hi Everyone,

Welcome to June!

Wow, the months are flying by? Why does it seem that every year goes by quicker and quicker the older we get, not like childhood when a year felt like an eternity?

In my home, June’s arrival means that Bob is ready for grilling. He makes sure the grill is spotless, and his grilling baskets and barbecue tools are ready to go.

This must be a guy thing because I never have the desire to stand in front of the grill watching my meal cook. Even though I cook every night and stand in front of the stove, the grill does not interest me.

The temperature reached 80 degrees and Bob said he was in the mood to grill steak for tacos, so he went to purchase some skirt steak and other ingredients I needed to complete this meal while I stayed home and started a marinade with oranges, limes, cumin, garlic and olive oil.

My marinades are always different depending on what I have in the house but I always try to get a citrus in the marinade.

Since this was the FIRST OFFICIAL grilling moment of 2018…

I decided to make this taco dinner into a Fiesta Night.

I have great dishes for this meal that are a combination of perfect Fiesta colors – red, yellow, blue and lime. This is a 10.5 inch ceramic plate that is dishwasher & microwave safe- always a plus. I picked them up last year at Dollar Tree when I was hosting a taco bar luncheon.

I wanted to use all the colors from the dish for my tablescape, so I am starting out with one of the brightest tablecloths I own, a very bright lemon yellow.

Another color in the plate is red and that will be the color of the napkins along with brown wooden napkin rings because I want to use my brown rattan chargers and the wooden napkin ring will look best.

These rattan chargers are my absolute favorite because they go with so many dinnerware patterns.

The flatware I am using is a set I don’t get to use very often. They are what I call, my “Cinco de Mayo” flatware because they have all the colors of a Mexican Fiesta – lime, orange, navy, red and yellow.

The glassware brings me right back to Dollar Tree. I went back to the store to purchase additional plates for the luncheon and these glasses were on the shelf just calling my name. This was a great find because they had all the colors of the dinner plate.

It is a 16 oz. glass with stripes of red, yellow, green and blue. Just perfect for what I needed.

I had an acrylic pitcher from back in the day, that I keep on the patio table to hold fresh basil & lavender to repel mosquitoes( a little tip from my Mom) and it matched perfectly.

Since this tablescape was spur of the moment, I had to think of what I already had on hand that I could use for a centerpiece and table accents. I had a box in the basement of the “Mexican” decorations that I used for the taco bar luncheon, so it was time to see what I coulduse again.

I brought the box up and found a sombrero and maracas along with a bag of artificial red chili peppers.

My next great find, which I honestly forgot I had was a Mexican serape table runner. I love this. It brings all the colors I am looking for together and captures that authentic Mexican feel.

I normally don’t use a table runner but this bright yellow tablecloth needed something extra.

You know by now how much I love to add salt and pepper shakers to my tablescapes to carry out the theme, so I went to my collection and took out the cacti set.

I thought that the tablescape needed a little accent of green and nature,so these succulents wrapped in burlap were added. (Of course they are artificial because I can kill a succulent- I definitely have a brown thumb. I killed the bamboo).

My love of candles continues so I added a few to the table, Mason jar tea lights do the job.

Okay, we are on our way to a Mexican tablescape.

Now to continue planning the meal …

I plan on serving the skirt steak tacos with lots of standard taco toppings, red rice and something new for me, Mexican corn or Elote.

The Meal…

Red Rice– Bob and I both love rice so I always include red rice when I make a taco meal. This time I added a can of pinto beans.

(This Red Rice recipe will be at the end of the post).

And now the Mexican Corn...I love to order this corn whenever I see it on a menu, so I had Bob buy some queso fresco cheese while he was shopping and I’ll give it a try.

The recipe doesn’t look difficult at all. The original recipe calls for cojita cheese but he couldn’t find that.

I topped it with a great seasoning blend that I bought in Trader Joe’s- Chili Lime.

(This Elote recipe will be at the end of the post).

When I was hosting the taco luncheon I decided to buy taco holders. All of the taco holders that I looked at in Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma were interlocking metal racks and I preferred individual holders.

I finally found some plastic taco holders that can be separated individually or clipped together and interlocked depending on how you were serving your meal. These holders are the best purchase for a taco night.

There is no mess with tacos falling over and contents of your tacos spilling out and it looks cute on the plate. Plus it makes it much easier for your guests to handle.

I think they are still available on Amazon.

I prefer using them separately but you can interlock as many as you want together.

DIANE’S NOTE:

If you don’t want to purchase taco holders, you could also use an inverted muffin tin. Place the taco shells between the cups and they will stand up.

OR an inverted cardboard egg carton.

Not as decorative for a party as the store bought taco holder, but it will work.

Along with the tacos, you need taco toppings. And to serve your toppings, you need lots of bowls. I had previously purchased plastic molcajete serving bowls to hold the tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, sour cream and salsa.

I served the toppings on a mango wood wine barrel tray. I like having the toppings all on one tray instead of scattered around the table. I think it looks much nicer.

Bob and I both don’t care for avocados, so you will never find guacamole as a topping for us.

You will never see cilantro as part of our topping choices either.

We are part of the population that for us, cilantro tastes like soap. Since this is hereditary and we both carry the gene, our son doesn’t care for cilantro either.

Whenever we go out to a Mexican restaurant we can never eat the salsa and have to be very specific with the server to have cilantro omitted from our meal and substituted with parsley.

So, don’t get upset with cilantro haters, we’re not being fussy, it’s just in our DNA.

I love using cast iron fajita skillets to serve steak. It keeps the meat warm and I love to hear the sizzle. I am ready to purchase an additional skillet just for grilled vegetables.

This particular skillet comes with a wood underliner hot plate and pot holder for the handle. You have to be very careful with cast iron because it gets so hot. I suggest you buy the pot holder.

And now I have saved the best for last!

Individual servings of “Mexican Layered Dip” served in a mini margarita glass. It is the cutest appetizer.

I brought out a platter of these for my luncheon and they were a big hit. Served with tortilla chips and vegetable spears.

I am sure you have all seen a version of 7-layer dip, now you can customize your dip in a single serving.

Just layer your dip ingredients in the glass and add your toppings. I used “guacamole”, refried beans, sour cream, salsa and topped it with cheese, tomato, scallions, olives and a lime wedge.

Ingredients are up to you.

Yes, I did say guacamole and I only used a littlejust for color and to give you a better idea of what the traditional finished product should look like- I didn’t eat it.

I wish you could have all seen the surprised look on Bob’s face when one of the shopping list items was the “smallest container of guacamole he could find”.

He is so used to my recipes and food experiments all these years, that he just goes along with everything and questions nothing –that man is an angel.

Diane’s note, if you use guacamole, layer it on the bottom of the glass so it has the least exposure to air. Exposure to the air will make it turn brown.

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I was looking at the cacti salt and pepper shakers and had a great idea.

I decided to make some candy covered cactus pretzel rods for the table. I had pretzel rods in the house and some leftover green candy melts from St Patrick’s Day and I have a basket of sprinkles in every color so this could come together quickly.

Just a little something extra for the table, served in a ceramic flower pot.

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Place setting

So that is our Mexican Fiesta

to welcome in the month of June and the grilling season.

I think we need a margarita and some churros and we will be all set.

I hope you can use some of the ideas that I shared today for your very own Mexican Fiesta.

Until my next post, “make every day a celebration!”

Stay well,

Diane

Thank you for visiting my blog and please spread the word and ask your family and friends to become members to DishingwithDiane.com

Elotes (or Mexican Grilled Corn)

*Author’s Note: If Mexican ingredients are hard to come by where you live, you can substitute sour cream for the Mexican crema. You can also substitute parmesan cheese for the cotija cheese in a pinch!

Instructions:

Grill the corn to your liking. I personally find it crunchier and more flavorful to take it off earlier, rather than later.

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Hi Everyone,

I know many of you consider Labor Day as the last day of summer, but not me. I want to hold on to this season to the very end and strictly go by the calendar.

This year Autumn starts on Friday, September 22, 2017, so I am holding on.

The nights have been getting cooler with a subtle reminder that my favorite season is saying good-bye; so to pay tribute to summer, I decided to post one more summer tablescape.

As you all know by now, I just love the beach and it is a big part of the summer season for me. The sand, sound of the waves and the peaceful feeling the beach brings. Maybe because I live on an island but the beach is definitely my happy place.

I was trying to think of a theme for this end of summer tablescape, and then I read a newspaper article that some of the local waterfront restaurants here on the island with private beaches, are planting palm trees to enhance the tropical island atmosphere of their restaurants.

Well, I just found my theme to say good-bye to summer- palm trees. And I have the perfect set of dishes for this theme.

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So lets get started…

The tablecloth…. I am using a tan, sage green, cocoa brown and beige tablecloth embossed with palm trees. I like the muted colors because I have candlesticks that blend perfectly with this tablecloth.

I used outdoor placemats that I bought for the patio table that are made out of PVC covered jute netting. You have probably seen similar placemats, they look like rubber. I bought the placemat in the shape of a palm tree frond.

(FYI- the material used for this placemat is top rack dishwasher safe.)

Along with the frond placemat, I am using my a brown rattan chargers once again. I get the most use out of these chargers.

The set of “palm tree” dishes was a birthday gift from a friend a few years back and I only had the opportunity to use them once last summer. So I decided to use them for this post and I hope my friend enjoys seeing her gift on the blog.

The dinner plates and salad plates have the same design. A beige background bordered in sage green and a cocoa brown around the rim with two palm trees in the center, also in sage green and cocoa brown.

The complete set comes with dinner plates, salad plates, bowls and mugs.

I think the dishes match the tablecloth perfectly.

The napkins are 20″ x 20″ over sized cotton napkins with a tropical leaf pattern along with the cutest gold palm tree napkin rings that I picked up from a great store in Florida that specializes in coastal home accents.

The glassware are acrylic highball glasses featuring sage green and cocoa brown palm trees with a cocoa brown rim on the top of the glass and a cross hatch pattern on the bottom of the glass.

The flatware is bamboo. I love using this set for my summer tablescapes.

As I mentioned before, I have the perfect candlesticks for this tablescape. They are polyresin palm trees in shades of olive green and brown along with off white pillar candles.

I told Bob that I was planning on a “palm tree” tablescape and my honey went out and bought me a tabletop palm tree. It’s perfect and I love it; and it is the new centerpiece.

Complete centerpiece with candlesticks.

My addiction and love for salt and pepper shakers continues and I found the cutest set of palm tree salt & pepper shakers on Amazon that look like the palm trees on the dishes.

I added an additional table accent, imitation succulents wrapped in burlap. I am sure with my NOT so green thumb, I could kill a real succulent in record breaking time so I am sticking to artificial.

I thought an Acacia wooden bowl filled with tropical fruits such as pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, bananas, and starfruit; would be a nice touch for the table as well.

So to say good-bye to summer, I just had to plan a meal to go along with the tropical feel as a send off to my favorite season, so I chose sticky pineapple chickenserved in a pineapple boat with coconut rice and a tropical fruit salad.

My dessert choice was Ambrosia & cinnamon sugar sand dollar cookies.

(All recipes at the end of the post)

Well, unfortunately for me, the time has finally come to say good-bye to Summer. See you in 273 days when Summer starts again on June 21, 2018. I am starting to count down already.

Wouldn’t you know, the rest of this week we are supposed to have weather like a hot Summer day. Temperature in the 80’s.

Thank you Summer for one last hurrah! Now I feel a little better.

Although, I still think I need some pumpkin ice cream and an apple cider donut right about now to ease my pain for Fall arriving tomorrow…

Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until the mixture has reduced to about 1 cup and is the consistency of thick syrup. Set the sauce aside.

Add the olive oil to a large nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and season it with salt and pepper. Cook the chicken, stirring, until it is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain off any liquids then add the sauce to the pan and stir until combined.

Add the pineapple and cashews and cook, stirring, for an additional 1 minute.

Serve the chicken atop a bed of rice.

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Coconut Rice

(Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

1- 1/4 cups water

1 teaspoon sugar

1 pinch salt

1- 1/2 cups uncooked jasmine rice

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine coconut milk, water, sugar, and salt. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in rice. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 18 to 20 minutes, until rice is tender.

In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the softened butter for about 1 minute on medium speed. Get it nice and smooth, then add the sugar on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Mix in egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides as needed. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cream of tartar. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 different parts. The dough is quite thick and you may have to stir the rest by hand.

Scoop a large section of dough (about 1 Tablespoon of dough each) and roll into balls. Make sure the balls are taller, rather than wide.

Make the topping: Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Roll each dough ball into the cinnamon sugar. Press 5 sliced almonds onto the tops of each dough ball, as pictured above. Chill the balls of dough for at least 2 hours and up to 48 hours in the refrigerator. This step will prevent spreading in the oven.

Bake chilled cookie dough for 10 minutes. The cookies will appear undone and very soft. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes and move to wire rack to cool completely.

Cookies stay soft & fresh for up to 1 week at room temperature. Cookies freeze well. Cookies may be rolled into balls and frozen up to 3 months to bake at a later date. Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.

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Hi everyone,

Today I posted a photo on the DishingwithDiane Instagram page and received an overwhelming number of emails for the recipe.

The Instagram posts can be seen here on the blog in the right hand column.

Included with the blog photos, I also include some personal pics (mostly food) on the Instagram page, to use as a reference for future recipes that I will feature on the blog.

The scallop photo was a photo from last night’s dinner.

I was quite surprised to get such a response.

I decided to make scallops for dinner last night because I have been wanting to try Ina Garten’s recipe from Foodnetwork for Scallops Provencal.

I recently purchased scallop shells from Sur La Table just for this recipe.

So after a morning full of email requests; I am sharing the recipe with all of you.

It was delicious, quick and extremely easy. Just make sure to have all of your ingredients ready.

I made this dish along with Lemon Orzo and I will include that recipe as well.

Have fun cooking!

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Stay well,

Diane

Thank you for visiting my blog.

If you enjoy the posts, please spread the word and ask your family and friends to subscribe to DishingwithDiane.com

Once you subscribe, you’ll never miss a post…

Also, continue to send me your comments, I love hearing from you.

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Scallops Provencal

From Ina Garten

Ingredients

1 pound fresh bay or sea scallops

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

All-purpose flour, for dredging

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup chopped shallots (2 large)

1 garlic clove, minced …( I used two cloves)

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/3 cup dry white wine

1 lemon, cut in 1/2

Directions

If you’re using bay scallops, keep them whole. If you’re using sea scallops, cut each 1 in half horizontally. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss with flour, and shake off the excess.

Cooks Note: I kept the sea scallops whole.

In a very large saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over high heat until sizzling and add the scallops in 1 layer.

Lower the heat to medium and allow the scallops to brown lightly on 1 side without moving them, then turn and brown lightly on the other side. This should take 3 to 4 minutes, total.

Melt the rest of the butter in the pan with the scallops, then add the shallots, garlic, and parsley and saute for 2 more minutes, tossing the seasonings with the scallops. Add the wine, cook for 1 minute, and taste for seasoning. Serve hot with a squeeze of lemon juice.

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Hi everyone,

You know how I love to share a great recipe when I find one and here is another one to add to the list.

A member of one of my food groups posted a picture of Chinese style spare ribs that she made and they looked too good to be true.

She was kind enough to share the recipe that she found on the website, “Serious Eats” and I had to try making them. I cannot thank her enough. They were delicious.

The recipe has only FIVE ingredients!

Her name is Malia Ploughman and she is an excellent cook. All of her posts are mouth watering and her presentations are beautiful. Along with the spare rib recipe, Malia gave me her personal recipe for fried rice. Equally as delicious.

With her permission, I am posting both recipes for all DishingwithDiane.com members.

I completed my meal with wonton soup from a local Chinese restaurant.

Bob and I had a very interesting time shopping at the Asian market picking up ingredients for these recipes including a bag of chocolate fortune cookies for me.

I hope you find the time to try these recipes and enjoy them as much as we did.

Now I’ll have to find an egg roll recipe….

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Stay well,

Diane

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Recipes

Chinese style Spare Ribs

See my Cooks note below (you know I have to tweak every recipe)…..

Courtesy of “Serious Eats” by way of Malia Ploughman

Note: You can add a few drops of red food coloring to the marinade if you want a deeper red hue on your ribs. Baby back ribs will work just as well as St. Louis-cut. You can cook ribs the same day they are marinated, but for best results, allow to marinade at least overnight and up to three days.

Chinese five spice powder can be found in the spice section of most major supermarkets. If unavailable, you can make your own by combining 1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon, 2 teaspoons powdered fennel, 1 teaspoon powdered star anise, 1/4 teaspoon powdered cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon powdered Sichuan peppercorns (you can substitute ginger for Sichuan peppercorns for a different style of five spice).

Sprinkle five-spice powder evenly over ribs and rub into them until thoroughly and evenly coated. Set ribs aside.

Combine hoisin sauce, shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and honey in a gallon-sized zipper lock bag. Add ribs to bag and mix until evenly coated. Seal bag, transfer to refrigerator, and let ribs marinate at least overnight and up to three nights.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375°F. Remove ribs from bag, wiping off excess marinade with your fingers (reserve the marinade). Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, set a wire rack in it, and spread the ribs evenly over the rack. Cover with aluminum foil and roast for 1 hour. Remove foil, brush ribs with marinade, increase heat to 450°F, and continue to roast until charred, glazed, and sticky, about 20 minutes longer, rotating ribs and basting with marinade once more during cooking. Let rest 10 minutes, then serve.

Diane’s Cooks Note: Additional glaze can be made using the same marinade ingredients….. I used a fresh marinade to baste the ribs the last 20 minutes and as a glaze before serving.

Diane’s Cooks Note: If you buy the entire rack of ribs instead of already cut individual ribs from your butcher and need help learning how to trim it into St Louis style ribs, here is a video from “The Meatwave” blog to help with that process.

Just make your rice ahead of time. (The day before or in the morning) and let it cool. Never make fried rice with hot rice. It will be mushy. Jasmine rice is ideal but any medium grain will work.

Have any veggie you want to use diced and ready to go when you start cooking. I use peppers, carrots, green bean and peas. I like a little fresh ginger and garlic in my fried rice. If you are using those, have them minced and ready as well.

Keep the sauce simple. Add a couple Tbsp of soy sauce, some shaoxing or sherry if you have it, a couple dashes of sesame oil, and sriracha or sambal if you like it spicy. If you like it a little sweet, you can add some brown sugar or honey. Totally up to your preference. But you don’t need much sauce. Like 1/4c for 2- 2 1/2 cups of rice.

Beat two eggs in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Place a wok (or large skillet if you don’t have a wok) over medium high heat. Drizzle with oil. Add eggs. You want to create a flare omelette. So let the eggs start to cook, then lift the sides of the omelette as it cooks and tilt the pan so the uncooked eggs run off to the side. Do this a few times. Then flip the omelette. Let cook 30 seconds more and remove from the pan. Dice it into cubes.

Add a little more oil to the wok and add your ginger and garlic. Stir fry until fragrant. Add veggies and stir fry about 2 minutes. Add rice. Breaking it up with your fingers as you add it. Stir fry with veggies. Breaking up any clumps of rice for 2 minutes. Push aside. Add sauce to the pan and toss everything together. Off heat, stir in diced egg.

Diane’s Cooks Note: I love onions in fried rice, so I added some diced onions as part of my veggies and topped the rice with sliced almonds.

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Thank you once again to Malia for sharing her recipes,

and

Thank you for visiting my blog.

If you enjoy the posts, please spread the word and ask your family and friends to “follow”, “like” , “share” DishingwithDiane.com and please join.